News
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Russia intensifies Donbas offensive as war enters fourth month
Since Moscow's invasion in late February, Western support has helped Ukraine hold off its neighbour's advances in many areas—including the capital Kyiv—but Russia is now focused on securing and expanding its gains in Donbas and the southern coast
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How a French bank captured Haiti
Far from an instrument of Haiti's salvation, its central bank was, from its very inception, an instrument of French financiers and a way to keep a suffocating grip on a former colony into the next century
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Unionisation in gaming could become a new reality
Discontent over working conditions at video game companies has been growing for years, driven by anger about long working hours, poor pay, temporary contracts and sexual harassment in the workplace. Now some game workers are considering unionisation, which would have been unimaginable a few years ago
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How NFTs lost their lustre
Cryptocurrencies are crashing globally, and there is some fear among enthusiasts that NFTs could be next
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Time to tax the growing billionaire club: Oxfam at Davos
A new billionaire was minted every 30 hours during the pandemic while one million people could fall into extreme poverty at the same pace, the international charity told leaders at the Davos summit
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Biden warns of potentially 'consequential' monkeypox spread
Several cases of monkeypox have been detected in North America and Europe since early May, sparking concern the disease, endemic in parts of Africa, is spreading
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Russian blockade of Ukraine may unleash famine
Silos and ports across Ukraine are now brimming with millions of tonnes of grain with nowhere to go as the country is slowly suffocated by the siege
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An Indian state banned alcohol. The drinking moved to nearby Nepal
The border between India and Nepal, barring moments of political tension, has been an example of how an open policy helps frontier people enjoy wider economic choices. That openness has been particularly welcomed by local drinkers since Bihar banned alcohol in 2016
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An entire town's Covid-19 money was sent to one man. He gambled it all away
A municipal official in Japan mistakenly wired the town of Abu's entire COVID-19 relief budget, nearly $360,000, to a single recipient on the list of low-income households eligible to receive the money. After promising to return the accidental payment, the man told police that he had lost the money in online casinos
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Boeing gives launch of Starliner spacecraft for NASA another shot
The spacecraft was built for NASA to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station, a feat that Elon Musk's SpaceX has succeeded at in the last two years. However, Boeing's two previous attempts were marred by serious technical problems, costing the airline hundreds of millions of dollars
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How the Times, US counted the unfathomable number of one million virus deaths
The number is based on death certificates and other official records. But given how many diagnoses were probably missed in the spring of 2020, when testing was in short supply, and a lack of official guidance about reporting these records, that is certainly an undercount